As John Bredin has suggested, it may be smart to fund those 'ready to go' projects that exist and are worthy of funding, provide a bit of time for longer-term funded projects to start (a year?), and recognize that developing good stimulus plans may involve funding planning and the longer-term projects resulting from it.

In order to offer a better idea of the universe of projects ready to go in 2009, next week I plan to post "U.S. Shovel Ready Rail Projects Part II - Starting Within A Year." "Part II" will benefit from a much larger data set than "Part I" - hopefully offering more transit possibilities for thought and action.